The Mayo Clinic Diet: A weight-loss program for life

The Mayo Clinic Diet is a different approach to weight loss. It's a lifestyle that can help you maintain a healthy weight for a lifetime.
By Mayo Clinic Staff

The Mayo Clinic Diet is a weight loss and lifestyle program designed by Mayo Clinic health experts. The Mayo Clinic Diet is a lifelong approach to help you improve your health and maintain a healthy weight. The Mayo Clinic Diet uses the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid as a guide to making smart-eating choices and encouraging daily activity.

Purpose

The purpose of the Mayo Clinic Diet is to help you lose excess weight and to find a way of eating that you can enjoy for a lifetime. The Mayo Clinic Diet aims to teach you how to choose healthy foods and portions and to develop healthy lifestyle habits so that you can maintain a healthy weight for life. The Mayo Clinic Diet says that making healthy changes in diet and exercise can reduce your risk of weight-related health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and sleep apnea.

Want to follow a diet that has been developed by medical professionals

Check with your doctor or health care provider before starting any weight-loss diet, especially if you have any health conditions.

Diet details

The Mayo Clinic Diet is the official diet developed by Mayo Clinic, based on research and clinical experience and detailed in the book of the same name, published in 2010. You might have tried what you thought was a Mayo Clinic diet — something you saw on the Internet or that was passed along by friends — but it was probably bogus. The true Mayo Clinic Diet says that successful, long-term weight control needs to focus on your overall health, not just what you eat. It also emphasizes that the best way to manage weight long-term requires changing your lifestyle and adopting new health habits. The Mayo Clinic Diet can be tailored to your own individual needs and situations — it isn't a one-size-fits-all approach.

The Mayo Clinic Diet has two main parts:

Lose It! This is a two-week phase that allows you to jump-start your weight loss, losing as much as 6 to 10 pounds (2.7 to 4.5 kilograms) in a healthy way. In this phase, you focus on lifestyle habits. You learn how to add five healthy habits, break five unhealthy habits and adopt another five bonus healthy habits. This phase also includes getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity or exercise every day.

Live It! This phase is a lifelong approach to diet and health. In this phase, you learn more about food choices, portion sizes, menu planning and sticking to healthy habits. You continue steady weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kilogram) a week until you reach your goal weight. By continuing the healthy lifestyle habits you adopted, you can maintain your goal weight permanently. In this phase, you also learn how to set a goal weight and how to develop long-term healthy-eating patterns. Regular physical activity remains a central part of this phase.

Follow the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight PyramidThe basis for the Mayo Clinic Diet is the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid. The pyramid illustrates the importance of balance between exercise and eating healthy foods.

Eat healthy foods and portionsThe base of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid focuses on generous amounts of healthy foods that contain a small number of calories in a large volume of food, particularly fruits and vegetables. Healthy choices in moderate amounts make up the rest of the pyramid, which encourages selecting whole-grain carbohydrates, lean sources of protein such as legumes, fish and low-fat dairy, and heart-healthy unsaturated fats. The Mayo Clinic Diet teaches you how to estimate portion sizes and plan meals. The Mayo Clinic Diet doesn't focus on counting calories, nor does it require you to eliminate certain foods.

Increase your physical activityThe Mayo Clinic Diet promotes regular physical activity and exercise, as well as healthy eating. When you're active, your body uses energy (calories) to work, helping to burn the calories you take in. If you've been inactive or you have a medical condition, talk to your doctor or health care provider before starting a new physical activity program. Most people can begin with five- or 10-minute activity sessions and increase the time gradually.

The Mayo Clinic Diet recommends getting at least 30 minutes of moderately intense exercise every day, and even more exercise for further health benefits. Moderately intense activity or exercise should increase your heart and breathing rates and possibly lead to a light sweat. Brisk walking and yardwork that entails near constant motion are examples of moderately intense activity.

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